This Love, This Hate (A Lesbian Romance)

TLTH Chapter Nine

This Love, This Hate

Chapter Nine

                Zoe and Jesse were in his upstairs playing a very worse for the wear deck of cards when they heard banging around downstairs. They both jumped at the sound and Zoe looked to Jesse in slight fear as the two of them dropped the cards in their hands. He held up a finger to tell her to be silent and slowly stood, crossing the room and stepping into the small closet before coming out with an old metal baseball bat. Zoe held her breath and stood as well, holding the chain of her wallet firmly against her thigh so it didn’t make any sort of sound at all and bit her lip, keeping her eyes on Jesse and listening closely to the shuffling around downstairs. Jesse moved to the doorway and gently stepped out, looking down the stairs before hollering, “I know you’re there and trust me, there’s not much to steal!”

                “Jesse, my boy, is that you?” A very low, bellowing voice returned loudly. Jesse froze where he was, bat in hand and did a complete one-eighty, shoving Zoe ahead of him towards the window.

                “What are we doing?” Zoe hissed.

                “Come on.” Jesse whispered in a low, commanding voice that left no room for any sort of negotiation whatsoever. Zoe wasn’t about to argue with him; she could tell something was horribly wrong. Jesse somehow knew this man downstairs, and it didn’t look like she wanted to find out how. They opened the window and climbed onto the roof outside that was above the window underneath them, despite it not seeming very steady and hopped down into the tall grass below. Before they could even catch their breath, the two of them were running through the trees and taking numerous back alleys Zoe didn’t even realize existed in the city, let alone why Jesse knew them. They kept running, only stopping when they had to for cars or passersby until finally they came to stop in front of Zoe’s house. “Can I lay low here? I’ll explain later. If we’re outside, he’s gonna find us.”

                Zoe nodded and went inside where she was met by the strange sight of Raine sitting on the couch in between Malarie and her mother awkwardly trying to comfort her while Henry drank and watched the game in the recliner beside them. “What the hell is going on?”

                “Oh, there you are!” Malarie greeted cheerily, “Where were you?”

                “With Jesse.” Zoe replied, still completely lost as to what she was seeing, “Raine…what…can someone explain what I’m looking at right now?”

                “She broke up with her boyfriend, dear. She came to talk to you about it but you weren’t here.” Their mother explained, patting Raine’s slender shoulder and standing, “Is this that new boyfriend you were talking about?”

                “What? Oh, um, yeah.” Zoe replied—that little white lie was the last thing on her mind right now. “This is Jesse.” There were an assortment of introductions between everyone and Zoe made her way over to Raine while they were going on and knelt in front of her. “Let’s go upstairs, hm?”

                Raine sniffed and lifted her shimmering sky blue eyes from the floor to look into Zoe’s. She nodded slowly with a small smile and stood with her, waiting patiently for Jesse. Jesse was being his typical charming self, even with Henry. Zoe exchanged an amused look with Raine and decided to just head to her room without him. “Come on, he’ll catch up.”

                Zoe watched as Raine hugged and thanked Malarie and was thankful for her twin’s always helpful nature. After a few murmured words with her, Raine followed Zoe up to her room and sat on the futon, rubbing her eyes. “I’m so sorry about all this. I should’ve just turned around when you weren’t here. God, I don’t even know why I came; it’s obvious you—”